#geology

Pier Paolo Pasolini on the set of the film Il Vangelo secondo Matteo (1964). ph. Domenico Notarangelo

NASA satellite images of the Richat Structure.

About the Richat Structure:

The Richat Structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara and Guelb er Richat, is a prominent circular feature in the Sahara desert of west–central Mauritania near Ouadane. This structure is a deeply eroded, slightly elliptical, 40-km in diameter, dome. The sedimentary rock exposed in this dome range in age from Late Proterozoic within the center of the dome to Ordovician sandstone around its edges.

babyfoxcollectionthings:

Islandia

Aragonite from Santa Eulalia, Chihuahua, Mexico under short wave ultraviolet and white light.  Specimen weighs over ten pounds.

Asbestos from an unknown location under long wave ultraviolet and white light.

“Third Find” Wollastonite (orange) in calcite (red) with minor barite (pale blue) from Franklin, New Jersey.  Shown under short wave ultraviolet and white light.  

Benitoite from the Dallas Gem Mine in San Benito County, California, the type locality.  Pictured under short wave ultraviolet light and white light.  Benitoite was discovered in 1907 and is the State Gemstone of California.  It crystalizes in the rare ditrigonal-dipyramidal crystal structure.  You can see this cool rock at a different angle here:   https://arockmaniac.tumblr.com/post/183595828185/benitoite-crystals-with-a-small-crystal-of-black

Mixed fluorescent minerals including afghanite, calcite, albite, scapolite, phlogopite, and others yet to be identified from Badakhshan, Afghanistan.  Pictured under white light, long wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, and short wave ultraviolet.  You can see the other side of this amazingly cool rock here:  https://arockmaniac.tumblr.com/post/183099375015/mixed-fluorescent-minerals-including-afghanite   

Chalcedony from Hidalgo County, New Mexico under short wave ultraviolet and white light.

A moon?  A planet?  No, it’s a 4-inch orange calcite sphere, pictured under short wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, long wave ultraviolet and white light.   

Benitoite crystals with a small crystal of black neptunite from the Dallas Gem Mine, San Benito County, California.  Benitoite was discovered in 1907 and is the State Gem of California.  It fluoresces a bright blue-white under short wave ultraviolet light.  According to www.minerals.net, “The crystal structure of Benitoite is unique, and is the only significant mineral in its crystal class. It crystallizes in a rare hexagonal sub-class called ditrigonal-dipyramidal.” 

Mixed fluorescent minerals including afghanite, calcite, albite, scapolite, phlogopite, and others yet to be identified from Badakhshan, Afghanistan.  Pictured under long wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, short wave ultraviolet, and white light.

Baratovite from the type locality of the Dara-i-Pioz Glacier (Dara-Pioz), Alai Range (Alayskiy), Tien Shan Mtn, Districts of Republican Subordination, Tajikistan under short wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, and white light.  The baratovite fluoresces bright bluish white under short wave UV.  Also incorportated in the specimen are agrellite (fluorescent pink), albite (fluorescent red), aegirine (black, non-fluorescent), and an unknown fluorescent green mineral.  The likely candidates for the unknown are willemite & thorite as they are known from the location.  The location is in an extremely remote and dangerous area accessible only by helicopter.  

Gemmy benitoite crystals with a tiny crystal of neptunite on a matrix of pale bluish crossite and snow white natrolite from the Dallas Gem Mine, San Benito County, California.  Benitoite is a rare blue barium titanium silicate mineral and is widely considered to be one of the rarest minerals/gemstones in the world.  Shown under white light, short wave ultraviolet, and long wave ultraviolet light.  While benitoite’s bright blue short wave fluorescence is a defining characteristic, the red fluorescence under long wave is more rare.  Benitoite is the state gemstone of California.  

Terlingua Calcite on the left and  fluorapatite from Wana, South Waziristan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly NWFP: North-West Frontier Province), Pakistan on the right.  Shown under short wave ultraviolet, long wave ultraviolet, mid-wave ultraviolet, and white light.  It’s interesting to me that they have opposite pink vs. blue responses to short wave vs. long wave UV.    

Hexagonal crystals of fluorapatite from Wana, South Waziristan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (formerly NWFP: North-West Frontier Province), Pakistan, showing different colors under different wavelengths of ultraviolet light.  Shown under mid-wave ultraviolet light, white light, short wave ultraviolet, and long wave ultraviolet.  

Benitoite crystal from the Dallas Gem Mine, San Benito County, California.  While this one is “stony” as opposed to “gemmy,” it’s an extremely sharp and well shaped trigonal crystal measuring .9 cm along the edges.  Shown under white light and short wave ultraviolet light.  Benitoite is a rare barium titanium silicate mineral and is widely considered to be one of the rarest gems/minerals in the world.  It is the state gemstone of California, where it was first discovered in 1907.      

Benitoite on crossite and natrolite with a sprinkling of tiny joaquinite crystals from San Benito County, California.  Shown under white light, short wave ultraviolet and long wave ultraviolet light.  Benitoite is the State Gemstone of California.  

moonandserpent:

Oxford University Museum of Natural History, Oxford, 2017.

41.408679, -122.197584

40.982665, -116.380167

41.256052, -117.172945

celebratingamazingwomen:

Marie Tharp (1920-2006) was a geologist and ocean cartographer. She created the first scientific map of the Atlantic Ocean floor, leading to general acceptance of theories regarding tectonic plates and continental drift.

She began working for the Lamont Geological Laboratory at Columbia University in 1948. Although her theories about continental drift were initially ridiculed and dismissed as “girl talk”, she identified the Mid-Atlantic rift in 1952, proving her ideas. She is now regarded as one of the greatest cartographers of the 20th century.

winterhazelly:

okay tumblr I think it’s time I tell you all about rocks chonch, I have given this talk three times and it has given everyone present Much To Think About, I am all about accessible education

very long transcript and photo sources under the cut

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